Purchasing County Held Certificates

PLEASE NOTE: It is the responsibility of the bidder to research properties prior to purchasing certificates. The Highlands County Tax Collector’s Office makes no claim as to the merit of any investment.

Access our web site at www.highlands.county-taxes.com then select "reports". We have prepared two reports to choose from, "CNTY CERTS 2009 SALE & PRIOR" provides a listing of previous year certificates available for purchase. The other choice is "CNTY CERTS 2010 SALE" provides a listing of only certificates available for purchase as a result of the 2010 sale available on or before 6/15/2010. Click on the standard report of your choice, then click on "view selected report". This will load the most current list of certificates. You may then download the list into a CSV, Excel, or PDF report. The purchase cost is indicated in the column named "Cert Balance Amount".

The forms below are required either before or at the time your list of requested items are submitted, unless you have already received a bidder number from previous purchases.

To retrieve forms: W-9, Bidder Registration Form in WORD format or in PDF format and Direct Deposit.

Florida Statute 197.432(4) prohibits the sale or transfer of tax certificates on properties granted homestead and a delinquent tax value of less than $100.00.

Pursuant to Florida Statute 119.071: Each person registering to participate in our annual online tax certificate sale or register as a tax certificate bidder for any purpose shall be required to provide his or her social security number. Disclosure of social security numbers obtained through this requirement shall be limited to the purpose of compliance with IRS laws requiring the Tax Collector to report interest earned by certificate holders by means of 1099.

This information will not be provided to third parties or other government agencies unless required by state or federal law.

Please mail a list of the items you wish to purchase along with payment (cashier's check, money order, wire transfer or ACH from your Direct Deposit Account) for the requested items or you may email your request to tax@hctaxcollector.com. The list must include the property account number, the tax year and the certificate number. County certificates are sold on a first come-first serve basis. Any certificates requested, but are no longer available upon processing will be refunded to the certificate purchaser.

Amount due is determined by the month in which transfer of certificate is complete, not the month in which the request is submitted. With written authorization from the bidder, payment may be withdrawn from the direct deposit account you provided during registration, otherwise, payment is required in the form of cash, cashiers check, or money order payable to:

Highlands County Tax Collector
540 S. Commerce Avenue
Sebring, FL 33870
www.hctaxcollector.com

If you have any further questions, please contact our office at (863) 402-6685.